Elite Dangerous: Odyssey

Elite Dangerous Odyssey logo

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is a major paid expansion in development for Elite Dangerous. Frontier Developments has described it as the biggest update yet and a defining moment in the history of the game. It has been in active development since August 2018, and was revealed on June 3rd, 2020 in a accidental upload. It is scheduled to release in early 2021.

Overview

ED Odyssey key art

Disembark, Commander, and leave your mark on the galaxy in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. Explore distant worlds on foot and expand the frontier of known space. Be the first to step out onto countless unique planets as you discover land untouched since time began. Elite Dangerous: Odyssey invites you to become a true pioneer.

One Giant Leap

See the galaxy like never before. Touch down on breathtaking planets powered by stunning new tech, soak in suns rising over unforgettable vistas, discover outposts and settlements, and explore with unrestricted freedom.

Forge Your Own Path

Take on a wide variety of contracts and play your way, from diplomacy and commerce to lethal stealth and all-out combat. Diverse settings, objectives, and NPCs offer endless mission variety and a near infinite amount of content to enjoy.

Assemble Your Crew

Elite Dangerous Odyssey Announcement Trailer

The leaked trailer for Elite Dangerous: Odyssey

Social hubs spread throughout the galaxy give Commanders the ideal place to plan their next move. Form alliances, procure services, and even find expert support in highly coveted Engineers. These public outposts also help you acquire and upgrade weapons and gear to perfect your playing style.

The Sphere of Combat

Experience intense first-person combat, kit out your character with an array of weapons and gear, and coordinate with teammates to master a multi-layered, deep, tactical environment where Commanders, SRVs and Starships converge.

Features

Confirmed

These are all the confirmed features.

• atmospheric landings on desert planets
• Explore planets and moons by walking in first person
• Public outposts and settlements
• Take on contracts
• Multiple play styles and freedom: diplomacy, commerce, stealth, first-person combat and more.
• Diverse settings, objectives and NPCs
• Social hubs
• Form alliances
• Procure services and support from Engineers.
• Multiple weapons and gear
• New spacesuit
• Coordinate with teammates
• Multi-layered, tactical environment with commanders, SRVs and starships.

Leaked info

According to a leaked roadmap and the leaked trailer, it will feature:

• Base building
• Atmospheric landings
• First person shooter style gameplay - (space legs)
• Thargoids in the flesh

Atmospheric landings were confirmed in the released trailer for the expansion, which shows two commanders landing on a atmospheric desert planet.

Arx Metadata

In October 2019, Frontier left a reference on the ARX website's metadata tags about cosmetics for buildings, weapons and SRVs. It was removed when people found it.

Background

People walking in a station

On 15 November 2019 Frontier described the new era of Elite in a Trading Statement and Roadmap Update:

"The future for Elite Dangerous is also exciting. Frontier is developing a major new paid-for release for the iconic space simulation which will dramatically expand gameplay and mark the beginning of a new era for Elite Dangerous. This will be characterised by significant new features to appeal to existing commanders, whilst being specifically designed to be a compelling, attractive and welcoming entry point for new players. Targeted for launch at the end of 2020, this major new release on multiple platforms will fall into financial year 2021."

Atmospheric Escape

Frontier said on 1 March 2019:"Back in August (2018), we mentioned that the team had begun work on the next major era of Elite. We believe this will be a defining moment in the history of the game and it will be our biggest update yet."

"In that post, we explained that the content was still very early in development, so we won’t be ready to announce it for a while. To give this more context, in order to realise the ambition for this update, and the size and scope of the content we wish to bring to the Elite Dangerous galaxy, we estimate this major milestone will be ready by the latter half of 2020."

"As development progresses, we will share more news and announcements on features, as well as timelines regarding this upcoming content for Elite. We can understand that having a long wait for news can be frustrating, but we truly believe that this will be the single most impactful update for our community. Having a development team dedicated to this milestone is our continued and unwavering commitment to making Elite Dangerous the most authentic, ambitious, and expansive evolving space game in the world."

On October 22, 2019, Community Manager Will Flanagan said:"The team have been hard at work on the next major milestone, which you may remember we mentioned back in March as our next major paid addition to the game. They’re making fantastic progress and on schedule for release by the end of next year. We are very excited to show you what we’ve been working on. However, we can only announce the content when it’s at the right stage of development, we estimate this will be ready to talk about at some time in summer 2020, after the Fleet Carriers update. We appreciate there is a bit of a wait, but we want to make sure it is ready to be shown before making our full official announcement to the world."

On June 3, 2020, a trailer for the expansion was accidentally uploaded for the expansion, and shortly taken down - however, the video has been re-uploaded by other channels. The trailer shows two commanders in a Cobra Mk 3 landing on a atmospheric desert planet, following an Anaconda to a base using jump packs, and aiming their weapons at the Anaconda.

Videos

Elite Dangerous Odyssey Announcement Trailer

Gallery

ED Odyssey logo

ED Odyssey key art